


Fighting like soldiers

by x_louis_loves_harry_x



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff and Angst, Letters, Love, M/M, Sad, Sad Ending, Sad Harry, Sad Louis, Sick Louis, Soldier Harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 18:27:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3906301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/x_louis_loves_harry_x/pseuds/x_louis_loves_harry_x
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One year ago, Louis was sent to hospital, because he started coughing blood, got thinner and paler. Eventually he started losing his friends, and one day he decided to sent letters to soldiers. He fell in love with one of them, Harry. When Harry came back he didn't knew of Louis' illness, but he promised himself to stay by Louis' side till the end, but then he had to return back to duty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fighting like soldiers

Louis was brought to the hospital a year ago, when he had started coughing up blood regularly while thinning and paling each day. Nobody knew what was wrong with him, nobody knew which disease was weakening him each day. Nobody knew if he would be able to survive, or how to treat him. Still they wanted to keep him in the hospital, to give him medical attention whenever he needed it, and they could keep a close eye on him.

Louis always had been a sociable guy, and in the beginning numerous friends visited every day. The number soon lessened through. Some losing their interest, others afraid he would die, wanting to fill the empty hole it would create even before he was gone. After half a year there were only two friends left, and honestly, they didn’t have enough time to keep him busy throughout the day. So he decided to sign up for a letter service from the army. Writing to different soldiers who didn’t have family and friends to write with.

Knowing they saw death and despair every day, just to create a better world for the rest of them. He wanted to write them letters, to get their thoughts away from what happened over there.

Once he started, he decided not to mention whatever disease he had, deciding those men needed a break from problems, not get more. So alright, he wasn’t always completely honest. Writing memories, instead of the nurse poking needles into his arm. Writing happy and funny things, instead of how he heard his mum crying in the hallway after she left. Still, those soldiers seemed to believe him, some becoming good friends through the letters, others more, or even less. 

One soldier in particular jumped out. He wrote back fast, and they seemed to get along quite well. They even have gotten so far as sending each other pictures, although Louis had used one from more than a year back, to keep up his appearance.

He had to admit the other was a charming and quite a handsome boy. He didn’t know if it was possible, but he almost felt like he was… in love. He didn’t mention it through, not knowing if the other was alright with that. Didn’t know if the other even considered them as friends, until one day, he’d learned they had to be friends at least.

The soldier had written he would be coming back to Great Britain soon, and asked Louis to come and see him, to pick him up from the airport. Louis had thought about that, long and hard, not sure if he wanted or could, but eventually deciding he could. He had leant a wheelchair, and sneaked out of the hospital with nobody noticing. A cab brought him to the airport, where he was back in his wheelchair, waiting nervously for the other boy to show up. To return from duty.

*

Harry was really nervous, to say the least. In a few hours he would be back in Great Britain, would see his family and friends again, would sleep in a normal bed again but most importantly he would finally meet Louis.

They started to write each other a few months ago, and it really helped Harry through very bad times. Louis was always there for him, when some of his closest friends passed away. The picture Louis sent him a while ago was always in his pocket, and he would look at it before he went to sleep.

You could say, he was a little in love with the boy with the ocean blue eyes and high cheekbones. Maybe it was stupid, because he had never met the guy before, but that would change in a bit.

His flight landed in London on time and he couldn't wait to get out of the plane. He grabbed his luggage and walked into the hall, looking for Louis. A few minutes later he saw him, but it wasn't the guy he saw on the picture.

This Louis looked smaller, paler and definitely skinnier. The blue colour of his eyes has faded into grey. He was also seated in a wheelchair. Harry's heart broke a little, but he called out for him nontheless.

"Lou," he shouted, and saw the smaller man turn in his direction.

*

Louis was quick to turn his wheelchair when he heard someone shout his name. His eyes flickering over the crowd to try and find the one who had called out for him, and when he did it was clear by how his whole face seemed to light up.

The brightness faded a little upon noticing the other's face. Harry was exactly like the picture he had send him, stunningly beautiful with brilliant green eyes and a dimpled smile, and the man seemed slightly... shocked? at how Louis wasn't exactly like his picture. Leaving Louis to fear that Harry wouldn't be happy to see him, would be angry with him for lying to him, or for hiding his sickness at least.

Louis hadn't meant to do that, he just didn't think that a soldier should receive letters filled with Louis's own pain and sorrow. The letterservice was meant to cheer soldiers up, to have them happy to know that someone had taken the time out of their day to write to them, they wouldn't want to find a letter filled with Louis describing his disease, or complaining about being in the hospital, that would cheer nobody up.

Harry quickly made his way through the crowd to Louis. When he was only a few feet away from him, he dropped his bag and opened his arms. He practically picked Louis up and spun him around, hugging him hard. Louis weight basically nothing, at least not for Harry. He couldn't be happier in that moment. After talking to Louis so much, he could finally hold him. One thing was sure for Harry, he would never leave Louis again, he just hoped Louis wouldn't leave him either.

Louis was honestly surprised by Harry's reaction. No questions were asked, no accusations were made. Instead the other just ran towards him and picked him up, leaving Louis to cling on him tightly as he let the other spin him around.

"Harry." He then breathed, as the man carefully placed him back in his wheelchair. "It's so good to finally meet you." He whispered in addition, taking the other's hand and smiling up at the other.

They had never discussed it, but Louis had feelings for Harry, and it seemed like Harry had returned those feelings. Louis had always decided against addressing the fact simply because Harry didn't know of his sickness, and Louis didn't want to tell.

Harry knelt down in front of Louis, taking Louis' other hand in his as well. "It's nice to finally meet you too," he said warmly.

For a moment he just stared at Louis in wonder. He could tell that Louis wasn't alright, definitely wasn't alright. But here he was, sending happy letters to Harry to cheer him up, to keep him going, even though he is so broken himself. He could cry, he already felt the tears in his eyes.

Louis just smiled as he watched the other, a smile which was quick to turn into a frown when he noticed the other's tears.

"Don't cry." He was quick to reply, gently squeezing the other's hands. "I'm sorry for lying, I just wanted to make a soldier happy, not more miserable by writing bad news. I didn't meant to hurt you while doing that, only tried to keep you happy. I'm sorry for hurting you." He then tried to explain, mistaking the reasons for Harry's tears.

"Oh Lou," Harry said sadly. "I'm not mad at you.. It's just.. You are so selfless, trying to make other people happy, when you aren't happy yourself.. You are amazing, you know that?" Harry tried to smile at him and leaned forward to kiss his forehead softly.

"So what's wrong Louis..?" He quietly asked, even though he didn't wanted to hear it out loud. He was afraid Louis would tell him that he would never get better again. At that moment he just prayed Louis had good news for him.

Louis's pale and pasty cheeks dusted a little pink at the other's words, a tiny smile momentarily stretching his lips, before answering the other's question.

"They actually don't know." He admitted with a little sigh. "One day, about a year ago, I started coughing up blood, they still haven't found the cause of it, don't know how to treat it, but they do know that my lungs are filling up slowly. They hope to find the cause or a treatment before it gets too late." He told the other quietly.

It wasn't exactly the good news he wanted to give the other, but it wasn't exactly bad either. The doctors couldn't say whether Louis would die from this or not, or when that would happen.

Harry closed his eyes at that. He really wanted to believe that Louis would get better one day, that a wonder would happen and they would find out and save him. But it had been one year, one fucking year. He wanted to hope, but deep down inside he knew, he knew that one day this boy would be gone. Life wasn't fair, he thought to himself. 

"So you are still in the hospital?" He asked, looking up at Louis. A single tear escaped his eye, rolling down his cheek.

Louis was quick to reach out when one single tear made it's way down Harry's face, brushing it away carefully, before nodding.

"I am." He replied. "I am not even supposed to be here right now, only allowed out with my mother or a nurse, and an oxygen tank, but... but didn't want to scare you off like that. I'll be fine for a few hours without, as long as I'll get back tonight." He replied, hating how he was hurting Harry with being sick, hating how his sickness had never brought him any good. Had only caused him to loose most of his friends, and leave both his family and Harry in pain as they feared he would slip between their fingers and pass any moment.

"We will go back to the hospital now." Harry said, afraid that something could happen to Louis. "I will stay with you." He added, smiling at Louis.

He then stood up and shouldered his bag. When he looked down at Louis he looked so fragile in his wheelchair. So small and so breakable. Harry would stay in the hospital with him, that was for sure.

Louis sighed in reply, not very fond of returning to the hospital already. He felt trapped there, felt like all he was doing there was waiting on his death while he still wanted to do so much. He was wasting time there, but he could understand harry's fears, so he simply nodded.

"Okay, yeah." He agreed. "Only if you stay with me." He then added, voice soft as he reached for the other's hand. Even while the other had already promised he would stay with him, he was afraid he was going to be left behind once again, because that was how it felt in the hospital, especially now most of his friends had given up on him

"I will stay with you forever Lou," Harry whispered, taking the handles of the wheelchair and leaving the airport with Louis.

They got a taxi and Harry helped Louis in, closing the door for the other boy. When he was seated himself he instantly took Louis' hand in his own, squeezing it.

At the moment he didn't even cared about his family, he would give them a ring later, tell them we was alright and would visit soon. But now all he wanted to do was spent time with Louis.

Louis knew the other couldn't promise that, knew Harry would leave sooner or later. Maybe because he had to return to duty, or maybe because he would eventually give up on his hope for Louis to survive, but Louis didn't mind, was happy enough to hear those words from Harry's lips.

He let Harry help him into the taxi with a grateful little smile. With all the bloodloss he was suffering, he was too weak to stand on his own, and getting in and out the taxi the first time had been quite a struggle, and it was ten times easier now he had someone to help.

"I never thought I'd meet you in real life, but I'm happy it happened."

Harry smiled at Louis. "Still can't believe it actually happened," he answered.

Harry was really afraid he wouldn't make it, because let's be honest, a lot of his friends had died, and Harry could have been one of them. But somehow he fought, was careful and just really tried to survive.

"You know," he started and looked into Louis' eyes. "You kept me going." He whispered, and it was the truth.

Being in war is not funny at all, the things you see is horrible, and on some days he just really wanted to give up. But then he would get a new letter of Louis, who would cheer him up a little bit each time.

Louis was happy to hear that he had helped Harry, that he had managed to cheer him up with his letters.

"My letters weren't complete lies, y'know." He then whispered, playing with Harry's fingers. "Everything I wrote was true, it just didn't happen that week, didn't even happen this year. They were all memories, things which happened before I got sick." He then told the other, voice quiet. Not wanting Harry to think he had been making things up.

He had never lied, he had only hidden things like his disease, and had changed the dates of the events he described.

"I'm happy they managed to cheer you up either way, that was their sole purpose."

"It doesn't matter Lou," Harry said quietly. "I know you lied to me about your illness, but if it were your memories, they are still amazing." He squeezed Louis' hand in his own.

When the taxi came to a stop Harry paid the man and helped Louis out of the taxi and into his wheelchair again. Together they made their way into the hospital quietly.

When entering the hospital, Louis slumped in his chair, as if to try and hide himself, as if he wanted the chair to swallow him. The reason why became clear pretty soon, after a frazzled looking nurse was rushing towards the two as soon as she noticed them.

"Louis Tomlinson, everyone has been looking all over for you." She stated, while she started to prod the boy to check whether he was okay still.

"You really need to stop sneaking out, it's not healthy for you to go out without medical assistance. Imagine what would happen if you'd get any of your episodes without a nurse close by." She scolded him with a shake of her head.

Harry watched the scene in front of him for a while. "I'm sorry Ma'am, it was my fault," Harry apologised.

"He picked me up from the airport. I will make sure the next time he will go out with medical assistance again." He smiled at her warmly.

The nurse looked up at Harry's words. Eyes gliding over the young soldier standing before her. They lingered at the uniform and the heavy bag the other was carrying. It was clear he had just returned from duty. She had posted a whole lot of letters to an army base in a foreign country, this had to be the soldier Louis had been writing with the entire time. "Just keep an eye on him. He doesn't seem to grasp that we're not doing this to annoy him but to keep him safe."

Harry still smiled at her. "I will take care of him." He reassured her and looked down at Louis again. "Where is your room then?" He asked the smaller boy, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"On the eighth floor. Number 817." He informed the other with a little smile. Knowing that the number of the floor sounded a lot better then the name. Terminal ill didn't exactly sound cheerful.

Harry nodded along and rolled Louis to the elevator, pushing the button and waiting for it to arrive. It only took a few seconds and the door opened. When they were both inside, along with two other people he pressed the button to the eighth floor, smiling down at Louis. He didn't think he would ever get used to the fact that he finally met Louis.

Louis ignored the pitiful looks the two other occupants send them. He knew how they must look. Going to the eighth floor with Louis looking so deathly sick, and harry still in uniform. And he honestly didn't want to think about it. Leaving him to focus on Harry instead, giving him another smile.

Harry noticed the pitiful looks as well, but trying to ignore them. He was thankful when they finally reached the eighth floor, bringing Louis to his room quickly and closing the door behind them. "Are you alright?" He asked, smiling at Louis slightly and placing his bag on a chair. The room looked like a common hospital room, a single bed in the middle, everything in white, looking sterile.

Louis was quick to nod. "I am fine. Do feel a bit tired though. Could you maybe help me in my bed?" He then asked the other with a bite of his lip as he rolled himself closer to the bed and pulled his duvet back. Just so he could pull it over once he was in. Instead of struggling to get under them when laying on top of them.

Harry smiled at him. "Of course," he said and walked over to Louis, carefully picking him up bridal style and carried him to his bed, laying him down softly. When Louis looked comfortable, he threw the duvet over his small body, kneeling down next to him.

Louis smiled gratefully at the other as the young soldier relocated him so easily to his bed. He then took a hold of the duvet the other had thrown over him as he relaxed into the pillows. He turned to look at the other with a small smile. "Really happy you're here."

Harry smiled at Louis, his blue eyes looking tired. "I'm really happy to be here." He whispered, kissing Louis on the cheek softly. "Do you want to sleep a little bit?" Harry asked, pulling a chair next to the bed.

Louis shrugged. "Sleep seems like a waste of time when you're here to talk to me." He replied quietly. "Probably should sleep though." He then added.

"We have plenty of time to talk to each other," Harry smiled at Louis, sitting down next to him and taking his hand in his own. "Try to get some sleep," he whispered and kissed Louis' cheek softly.

**Author's Note:**

> We hope you like the story ! Tell us what you think ! x We will update soon !


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